Potato Cakes

Potato cakes... this is one of my favorite foods but because they are fried I do not make them too often. But when I do... I am a happy girl. These are one of the foods that Wade was very confused about when we first got married. A couple of others were: Ham and Beans, big pots of fresh green beans w/ ham and potatoes, grits, fried zucchini, meatloaf, sweet tea, wilted lettuce... I could go on and on... You know, all those good dishes from the south! He now loves all of the above but being from the north, they were a little odd to him. The first time I tried to make potato cakes for him he swore he would not try them. Looking back, he said he had envisioned putting syrup on them like you would pancakes. No wonder he thought they would be gross!! Once I explain that you salt them and even put ketchup on them, he was more game to try them. He likes them now!! Potato cakes are also a great way to use up leftovers!!
You need:
2 cups cold leftover mashed potatoes
1 large or 2 med eggs
3/4 c. flour
1 teas garlic salt
1 teas pepper
oil for frying

Mix everything together but the oil. Heat oil about 1/2 inch thick. Make sure your oil is hot but not too hot. If you put a pinch of flour in the oil and it is bubbling, it is ready. If it sinks... your oil is not hot enough. You want to maintain that temp. Smoking oil is not ok and potatoes absorb favors. If the oil gets too hot your cakes will have a burnt taste. I drop the batter by spoon fulls to make smaller cakes. I always use a cookie scoop. The oil should bubble nicely around them. Once you see air bubble pop up in the center of your cakes OR you can see the edges brown, flip them over. They usually cook a couple of min on each side. When done, drain them on a baker's drain rack. Paper towels hold oil in your food. If your oil is the right temp, you drain your food properly, and use the right kind of oil, frying is not always that bad. Salt the cakes and enjoy.

**Note** Good oils can include canola, peanut, and olive oil. Olive oil is very healthy for you but has a low smoke point and a strong flavor. So olive oil is never good to use to fry. Canola has a very light flavor and is cheaper that peanut, so I use it more often. But NOTHING can beat peanut oil in my opinion. So for potato cakes I would use canola or peanut oil.